Last Basketball Game

The Last Game

     All season long our JV boys basketball team had been working hard to improve, and we were about to play the last game of the season. For me it was going to be my last game on the JV team. We were all having a good time in the locker room joking around and blasting out pump up music from the portable speaker. The base from the speaker felt like it was moving my body as I sat next to it getting my jersey and shoes on. 

     At last, RJ, our coach, came into the locker room telling us to head out and warm up for the game. We all ran out, pumped up for our last game as a team, and began warming up. As we warmed up we were all hitting our shots and getting even more excited for our game. Finally, the clock ran out of time and the buzzer sounded. I could feel my ears ringing from the sound still as I walked onto the court ready to start the game. As the ref through the ball into the air, I jumped to tip the ball, but I was out-jumped by the other player. As we got the ball back we ran down the court eager to score. I got the ball, turned towards the basket, and shot it knowing right after that it was off. This continued to happen to us and at the end of the half the score was a meager ten to fourteen.

     After a short talk in the locker room about how we needed to be more aggressive we headed out ready to play with a mindset that we had to win. This time right off the bat when i got the ball i drove it in and scored. This was just the beginning for us. Trevor, the other forward, and myself continued to take the ball to the basket, and one of the guards started knocking down threes. We began to pull away from them, but they started to catch up at the beginning of the fourth quarter. 

We called a huddle, and RJ told us that we had to guard our man in order to win the game. As we started again we all were playing great defense.With a minute left I gave an assist to Trevor who got fouled, and went to the line to shoot free throws. He made his, and we immediately matched up to play defense. We forced a steal by playing good help defense and were able to pass it down the court to Trevor again. He was fouled, shot two more free throws, and made them both. We finally had the game in the bag. As the clock ran out with us ahead by four we all started congratulating each other on the game and the overall great season we had together. In the locker room our RJ told us we won by the great teamwork we had used on defense. That was the reason we had won. We all knew that because we had all worked so hard together throughout the game, we were  able to pull out win the win at the end. We had been a team and helped each other the whole game as we should have done.

2nd Non-Fiction Story

Fishing the Thunderbolt

     My family and I had gone to Key West for a week in mid-July to see an old family friend. When we got the the first night we took a nighttime boat ride around the knotted mangrove trees trying to see the tail of a redfish on the low tide. When we got back that night we grilled some mangrove snapper he had caught that day and relaxed around the fire pit watching the shadows of fish swimming under the luminous dock lights. 

     The next day we went out reef fishing to catch some more mangrove snapper for dinner again. Then my dad’s friend had the idea to go out to a wreck called the Thunderbolt which was a sunken freighter. We headed out with about an hour of light left in the sky. As we pulled up to the spot where the wreck was I looked over the edge of the boat expecting to see a ship below us, and was extremely confused when I only saw the black abyss like ocean. Once we anchored up i immediately grabbed the dead ballyhoo from the bait-well, but my dad said that it would never work. I insisted on using this as my bait and my dad finally gave in to my request. As the bait was sinking towards the wreck I got sidetracked thinking about what types of monster fish could be living on the wreck. 

     All of the sudden the rod felt like it was being ripped from my hands and i tried to reel up the strong fish on the other end of the line. After a ten minute fight with the fish I finally got it to the surface and saw that it was an enormous, torpedo shaped amberjack. I gloatingly looked at my dad with an I told you so look because i was so proud that my decision to use the dead bait had caught me this trophy fish. When my dad helped me hold it for the picture it was as tall as I was at that time which made me even happier. That was a greta day for me because I had accomplished a great fishing trip using my own knowledge and had been right about the bait. That night for dinner we got to have grilled amberjack with mango salsa on top which made me feel even more accomplished because it fed everyone with meat to spare.

Non-Fiction Story

Cody A. Blair 

English 2 H.

Non-Fiction Story

My First Time Wake Boarding

Learning to wakeboard seemed like it would be a daunting task at first because I was trying to at an older age than everyone else. It was my first time trying to even get up, and I was at Camp Crystal summer camp. I was with a group who had all wake boarded before so I felt like I had to get up on my first try. One other boy was going to go in front of me so I watched how he got up to try and learn the techniques needed. He got up easily and rode around the lake for 5 or so minutes. Finally it was my turn to try and I was feeling extremely nervous because the water was starting to get choppy. The counselor tossed me the pull rope and gave me some last minute advice before we started. Then it was time to go. I heard the engine start and the rope got taut. I let the boat pull me up and twisted my legs like they had told me to do. I stayed up and contradictory to my beliefs I did not immediately face-plant into the water. Once I stayed up they were telling me to get outside of the wake so that I could try to jump. I was nervous enough trying to stay up because the water was running over my feet, and I did not know if it was supposed to do that or not. After a couple minutes I got the nerve to try and I immediately fell face first into the water. After the counselors asked if I was alright they tossed the rope to me again, and I was able to get up again. This time I immediately headed for the outside of the wake, and did not fall. When I got out there it was completely different because I felt like I had so much more control over the board and my own movements. After my round of going around the lake I got into the boat where the counselors congratulated me and told me I had done great. For the rest of the time I got to ride around in the boat listening to the Wop and had a great day because of this experience.